i dare you to close your eyes (and see all the colours in disguise)
by Mashpotatoe Queen
Summary: Batman is being held captive on an alien planet. He's caught some sort of off-world disease, he has no tools to speak of, and is guarded by a nearly twenty-four hour rotation of oddly shaped monsters. He's starting to get a little desperate. His kids are starting to get a little desperate, too, waiting for their dad to come back to them. (And it's a long, long wait for everyone.)


**Warning: Mind ****Manipulation**

**Title is from Monsters and Men, Yellow Light.**

**Angst with no comfort (just a little bit...)**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**...**

Batman has been captured for three days, based on his internal clock.

He's not sure how he got here, some sort of memory lapse he can't bring back, because one moment he and the rest of the Justice League were returning from an off-world mission, and the next Bruce woke up in a sterile white prison.

There was no sign of the Justice League. This entailed either they got away, or that they were being held somewhere else in the vicinity.

If it was the former… that was a concern. Because it meant he was on a planet that the others have been unable to locate yet, or at the very least a base well defended enough to give them trouble.

If it was the latter, that meant he would have to be doubly cautious: any being capable of keeping down a Kryptonian, a speedster, Martian Manhunter _and _an Amazon and Black Canary is one to be taken as a threat.

The creatures are some of the strangest he's ever seen, varied in sizes and shapes and colours, and they're in no database Bruce has yet to read through, including that of the Green Lantern's Corp.

They're also incredibly smart, having stopped all escape attempts so far and stripping him of all his armour and tools, leaving him nothing more than a soft t-shirt and pants that fit oddly well for beings who don't appear to have any clothes themselves.

(Most aliens, Bruce has learned, don't use clothes, having developed in better ways to suit their environments. Most aliens, Bruce has learned, thus will just let him be in his costume and utility belt. This is always their first mistake.)

They speak in growls and snarls and odd barking noises that are too loud and grate at his ears- although that _could _be the constant headache he's been facing over the last few days, or the fever, or the overall ill demeanor.

Whatever this sickness was, it wasn't human in nature. There are small purple blotches going up and down his arms, and then yellow streaks on his chest. His muscles also occasionally seize up completely, leaving him paralyzed.

God, Bruce hates going off world.

He is three days over the planned allotment of time in space. He is stuck in some sort of alien facility. The Justice League may or may not be incapacitated.

And all he can think of are his _kids _.

He hopes his kids were okay. He hopes they aren't too worried for him, that they are doing their homework and eating well and not in too much danger or pain. He's supposed to be attending Damian's art show today, and he's missing it. He had plans to talk with Duke more, about settling in, about how things are going for him at school, and he is unable. He was meaning to go over some plans with Dick.

And now he _can't. _

Which is annoying as _hell. _

It's the guards who are the problem. Bruce can get out of the confinements, but in his ailing state he can't get past the guards.

They come and go in shifts, sometimes in pairs or groups, sometimes alone. Some of them growl and snarl and some are almost entirely silent

Speaking of….

The small green one is back.

The dark vivid creature, more scale than skin and with two enormous tusk like appendages escaping its bloodied mouth and beady yellow eyes prowled closer to the enclosure.

Bruce stands, analyzes, peers closer: the creature is holding something, an occurrence that has yet to occur with this one, although the golden one often times brings in a small rectangle of odd looking… something and then proceeds to snarl at him for a consecutive hour.

Thinking about it makes Bruce's headache increase, so he just focuses on the green one, who seems to be showing him an image of some sort, although the blurriness to his vision makes it impossible to decipher precisely what it is.

The alien snarls, and Batman stares impenetrably back, silent.

They look at each other for several moments, the quiet stretching on and on and on, and then finally there is another growl and the creature slams into the edges of the glass, whole bodied and angry and seemingly growing in size.

Batman steps back, slides his feet into a fighting position, and readies himself for anything.

But before another move can be made, the big blue one comes in, its usual languid movements replaced by quick furtive ones, and it corrals around the small green one and makes deep, strangulated noises that could almost count as crooning.

Which is… interesting. Maybe this means that Bruce is to be left unharmed.

Or maybe this means that he is to be a good specimen for something far, far worse.

The blue one turns and hisses at him, its bird like facial features contorting strangely to make the sound, and then turns and nudges the smaller green one out of the door, coarse fur shifting over muscular limbs, tail thrashing agitatedly.

There had to be a weakness. Bruce would find it, and he would get out of here.

He would.

* * *

Dick finishes wrapping bandages around Damian's bloody knuckles, and sighs, leaning down to try and catch the younger's eyes.

"You really shouldn't punch the glass, ya know. It doesn't help anybody."

He runs his hand through Damian's hair, and the younger boy doesn't even respond, just stares angrily down at the canvas laying on the cot besides him.

_Right, _Dick thinks to himself, _This is going swell. _

"It's a great piece of art, Dami. Bruce is going to love it! Really. We just have to… be patient. Clark said the disease should run its course in another week or so."

No response: the younger boy just shrugs the arm around his shoulder off and storms away, slamming the picture face down on the way out.

The elder picks it up, turns it around and looks at the image painted there, the smooth outline of a tall man gazing at a rising sun through the large manor windows.

"This is getting real old, real fast, Bruce…"

* * *

The gold creature comes back to growl and snarl at Batman again, and this time brings the panther-like black and purple one with it, who sits completely still and stares at him with calculating eyes the whole time.

They only stop and leave when a yellow one comes in, one Bruce hasn't seen before. It pays him barely any attention, comes up to his enclosure and yowls before bouncing around the other two, seemingly calling them to follow.

They do, and it leaves the Batman behind.

Alone.

* * *

"Any luck?" Stephanie asks, but Duke just shakes his head.

"I've been reading to him for days and all he does is just… stare."  
Cassandra steps ahead and turns to look at them both, gesturing back to the way they came.

"Bruce thinks….enemy."

Duke shifts, tucks his small paperback copy of _War and Peace _under his armpit, and sighs.

"Yeah, Cass, I know."

And he, too, glances behind them.

"I know."

* * *

The creatures come in, watching his every move. Blues and blacks and purples, yellow and gold. There is one that is a fiery, angry blood red, who stops by one time, stares for just a moment, and then shifts on agitated feet and strolls back out. There is one who is a pale sky blue who almost seems to be trying to communicate with him, but what Bruce does not know.

He does not speak. He watches. He plans.

He wishes he were home.

* * *

(His children stand vigil and wait for him to realize he's already there.)

**...**

**Did I catch you with the plot twist? Eh? Eh?**

**If you spot any spelling mistakes, let me know. I do all of my own editing so I sometimes miss things. **

**Thanks to everyone and anyone who took the time to read. Further thank you's to anyone and everyone who takes the time to favourite or review! **


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